


song of skaia

by neocxxlture



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 2nd person POV, M/M, The Apocalypse happens, bittersweet maybe, implied happy ending question mark, not really chronological narrative, the nct homestuck au no one asked for, they play a game, this is an experiment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-23 06:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18148082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neocxxlture/pseuds/neocxxlture
Summary: From your bedroom window atop your tower, you can see Taeyong’s window, and the soft orange illumination coming from within. Something within your chest siezes. He’s awake, you are sure – he only keeps candles lit when he is writing into his journal. You should visit him. You haven’t done so in a while.





	song of skaia

**Author's Note:**

> this exists only because i realized i could write it and there was no one to stop me.
> 
> you dont need to know homestuck to read this as i TRIED to write it in a way it wouldn't be too confusing? but it probably will be. so i'd suggest you either a) read homestuck or b) ask me any questions you might have on my [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/neocxxlture) or on [twitter](https://twitter.com/paperplane_127) <3
> 
> this is an experiment, but also it is dear to my heart. <3

 

Your name is Doyoung and you are exhausted.

You don’t know if it’s night or day. You look up at Skaia, but it remains clouded over, as it’s been consistently for months now. The concept of day is needless now; it is always dark here.

You miss the light. You miss the warmth that usually accompanied the days. It’s like an endless winter now, even if there’s no snow, nor is it really cold in the sense it used to be back on Earth when Earth was still a thing. The lack of warmth gives way to a chill you cannot explain, but it settles in your bones just the same.

From your bedroom window atop your tower, you can see Taeyong’s window, and the soft orange illumination coming from within. Something within your chest siezes. He’s awake, you are sure – he only keeps candles lit when he is writing into his journal. You should visit him. You haven’t done so in a while.

You sigh, and step back from the window.

\--

You only wanted to play a game with your friends. You never thought things would turn out the way they did.

Maybe if you’d denied Taeyong when he approached you about it, you could have prevented it. Maybe if you weren’t so weak to his pleas, all his messages of _please please play it with me you won’t regret it please doyoung,_ if you didn’t jump at the chance to give him anything he’d wanted so readily like a goddamn fool, maybe none of this would have happened in the first place.

But maybe that sort of thinking is unwarranted. Regret never did anyone any good, and especially here in the Medium it is meaningless. It’s something you’ve been trying to come to terms lately, the more you read books unearthed from the tombs on your land and the more you understand the nature of the game. It was always meant to happen like this. There is nothing you could have done to stop it.

You know that Taeyong is dealing with it the worst of any of you. There were nine of you, in the beginning, but Taeyong was the one to find the game, the one to propose it to your group of friends, the first one to excitedly invite you all to play. He didn’t know. He couldn’t have known. It must be so hard on him still, to think that he’d caused the end of the world, the undoing of the universe. You can’t even imagine the guilt he must be burdened with.

It isn’t his fault. You want to tell him that, again and again. _you’ve done what you could,_ you messaged him once, after it had become clear that your group’s quest will not bear fruit, no matter how hard you would try, _you kept us alive. you’ve saved us all._ He didn’t reply.

The moon is quiet. The entire kingdom where you currently reside is like a ghost town. There is no one out on the streets. You are not sure there is anyone there at all, if you think about it; you hadn’t seen anyone in a long time. Except for you in your tower and Taeyong in the next one, maybe there really isn’t anyone else.

The other boys currently reside on Derse or on their own planets. You know for a fact that Jungwoo and Taeil and Yuta returned to their Lands to wait. You don’t know about the others. You all kind of lost contact. You only remained on your moon because, well – Taeyong remained. And you didn’t have the heart to leave him all by himself.

When you look out your window again, you can see that his bedroom is dark now. He must have gone to sleep, then. You wish you could do the same, but sleep doesn’t come easy now. It hasn’t in a while. There’s no point in sleeping when Skaia is so dark.

\--

It hasn’t always been so gloomy, with the nine of you. There were times you were excited to face the challenges the game had thrown your way. It was exhilirating. It was a brand new world full of possibility and purpose and so much more – the endgame goal seemed worth the effort. There were others before you, as you’d come to learn, groups of friends that made it through and won. You thought you would be just as successful.

You’d spent weeks on your Land with Taeyong, while he helped you locate frogs from all around your planet. In retrospect, it is a time you treasure now, looking back at it with fondness and warmth filling your entire heart. It may not have been a simpler time, but it had been more hopeful, happier. You were happier. He was with you. He still laughed. He held frogs in his hands and giggled and you thought you’d had everything you‘d ever need, right in front of you.

It took an awful lot of time to breed the perfect frog, but you managed it. Taeyong was glowing when he’d regarded it, the tiny tadpole swimming in a small bowl of water he held in his hands, shimmering with different colors. He looked at it and cooed at it like he fell in love, and maybe in that moment you did too.

When Taeyong looked at you with so much wonder in his eyes, you were helpless. With the breath knocked out of your lungs, you only stood frozen in your place when he set the bowl on a table, gently, before walking over to you. His steps were slow, deliberate, like he was giving you time to stop him if you wanted to. You didn’t.

He stopped right in front of you, only a few inches between your bodies. Looking right into your eyes, he waited. You couldn’t move. He reached out and took your hand, intertwining your fingers, and your heart skipped a beat, then another.

“Doyoung,“ he said, voice low. You closed your eyes, only for a moment.

“He looks healthy,“ you remarked, referring to the small colorful tadpole on your table, “A special little guy.“

“He is,“ Taeyong replied, “He’s perfect. We did it.“

It was an arduous process, the breeding. You both spent countless hours each day working on it, getting the genetic sequence right, and you nearly lost your mind a couple weeks in – but you were finished now. It was done. You still couldn’t believe it.

It was crazy still, to think this tadpole would come to mature to a frog that would bear an entire new universe, your own universe. The responsibility felt stifling sometimes, because you weren’t sure that you did it right and you wouldn’t be until it would be too late to make any changes. It was something you used to lament over, but Taeyong always comforted you, hugged you around your shoulders and told you you’d succeed.

If you did, it was only because he was there with you. You wouldn’t have been able to do this quest alone, nor with anyone else except for him. You hoped he knew. Maybe you should have told him.

\--

When it became clear that you couldn’t complete the game, it took a toll on Taeyong especially.

He never considered himself the leader, but somehow the rest of you came to regard him that way – he was naturally good at leading you to completing your goals. He was the first one to enter the Medium, the first one to reach God Tier, the first one to land a critical hit on the Black King during the last battle. He was amazing – every single one of you was in awe.

It was apparent that he’d thought that he'd somehow failed. There was no place on the battlefield for the Genesis frog, even though there should have been. You’d come to find out only after you all had gotten to the place, ready to release him – and there was nothing there. You were all confused. This was not supposed to happen.

You’d soon come to learn that the fate of your session was premeditated– it was always meant to be a null session. Not meant to be successful. Not meant for you to claim the Ultimate Reward. Not meant for you to win.

It would be a lie to claim you weren’t heartbroken. It took so long to get you where you were now, weeks upon weeks of labour and fighting and building houses up and completing quests – all for nothing. It wasn’t easy to accept. You were frustrated. Surely there must have been something that could be done – such was the nature of this game. There was always something to be done.

It seemed futile.

Weeks passed, and Taeyong progressively withdrew into himself. You’d tried talking to him. He responded at first, but as time went on, even his replies became infrequent until they’d completely stopped. He took residence in his tower on the yellow moon and stayed there even when you begged him to come out. _what’s the point,_ he would say.

You didn’t have an answer for him. Maybe there wasn’t any point to it at all.

\--

The following weeks after you’d created the frog were the happiest of your life.

The others were off on their planets completing their personal quests, and so there was no hurry to travel to Skaia to the battlefield just yet. You’d completed your own quest with Taeyong’s help and Taeyong decided that he didn’t care for his own – and so he’d decided to stay. The days passed with you cooped up in your house, just hanging out, talking, watching your old DVDs of the movies Earth has left behind.

The first time Taeyong kissed you, you were walking on your planet, down a twisting pathway. Everything on your planet was awash in shades of blue and violet, full of trees and fireflies. You liked it, from the moment you saw it; something about it felt inherently yours.

You’d stopped atop a little hill, overlooking a small consort village below. Everything shimmered with the little lights of the fireflies. Taeyong was holding your hand the entire time.

His lips were warm against yours, soft. It was at first only the briefest touch. He’d given you space again, to back out if you needed to, to compose yourself and decide if you wanted more. Your hold on his hand tightened, and with the other you slowly reached for him. You felt his smile in the next kiss. And the next. And the one after that.

You can barely remember how long you’d spent there like this. As far as you were concerned, time and space around you ceased to matter altogether – it was only you and him and your chests pressed to each other. You could feel his heartbeat. When he hugged you and hid his face in your shoulder, you could hear him admit, quietly, “I was so nervous. I wasn’t sure you liked me back.“

You tightened his hold on his waist. How could you not? He was lovely. “I do like you.“ You whispered into his hair. “I like you so much.“

\--

It hurt, when Taeyong refused to see you.  He’d holed himself up in his tower and all your efforts to make him come out of there were deflected.

You didn’t want to do this over text, but he left you no choice. _please talk to me_

At least he replied back. _i don’t think i have anything to say._

And then, _i should have used my powers, when i still had the chance. it could have helped us._ You know for a fact that he only used his powers when he was helping you with the frog breeding, and not any other time. _I’m sorry._

Your fingers were fast on the keyboard. _this isn’t on you. you couldn’t have known._

_But i should have, don’t you see? What good is a hero of time if he cannot use time to his advantage?_

But none of this is Taeyong’s fault, you want to scream. The thing about all of this - this farce of a game - that you’d come to learn is that Taeyong did only what he was supposed to, exactly how he was supposed to. He was never meant to use his powers to help your group win.

 _you’ve done what you could,_ you write, _with or without your powers, you looked out for all of us._

 _if you were to use your powers, maybe that would have created a doomed timeline. we could have all been dead._ You wish you could explain it better to him, but you believe this to be true regardless. Your understanding of your aspect isn’t as broad as you’d like, but of this you are certain. _you kept us alive. you’ve saved us all._

\--

As it became unbearably obvious that there’s nothing more for you to do than live out the rest of your life in a dead session, you decide to visit your denizen.

You’ve been to Echidna’s lair before, before your quest. She helped you, and in return you helped her; you didn’t have any problems with the interaction, the way your co-players had with their own denizens. She was calm and wise and offered you a rational Choice, in your opinion – and so you don’t see why she shouldn’t be able to help you now.

If anything, at least you’ll have a chat with someone again, after some time. The thought makes you smile, as you travel the caverns to where she nests. It takes some time, but soon you find her in her giant chamber, wide awake and waiting for you. You are not surprised that she anticipated your visit.

She tells you as soon as you stop in front of her, in her hideous grating monster-tongue, _There is nothing you can do._

You realize you’d been hoping that she would say the opposite. Before you can crumble with desperation, however, she adds, _You can only wait. There are heroes on their way. They will bring life to your session._

For the first time after a long time, you allow yourself to feel a hint of hope.

\--

The legend says that there are seven heroes bound to arrive in your session, sooner or later. Now that you know what to look for, clues about their arrival are basically everywhere, sprinkled throughout the caves of your land. These heroes will save you. They had escaped their own dead session to try their luck in yours.

Together, you will prevail. You will win, and claim your reward.

You share the news with Taeyong. You share each clue you find, send him updates, and keep it up even if he doesn’t reply.

It takes some time. You don’t know how long, but after a while he starts responding back, just a few words at a time. It’s a  _that’s nice_ one day, or a  _that was hidden on your land?_ another. You take what you can get. At least he is talking to you again. You didn’t feel this happy in a while.

He lets you visit him in his room, finally. As he opens the door for you he gives you a smile, a tired but still a pretty one. You are surprised to find that he looks the same as when you saw him last. You prepared for the worst, and you feel relief.

He lets you hug him, when you try. After a minute, he brings his hands up to hug you back, tight. You kiss the top of his head.

Through his window, you can see a flash of green in the midst of the darkness of the Furthest Ring. Your chest fills with promise. You feel like soaring. You all have a second chance.

They are here.

**Author's Note:**

> doyoung is a sylph of space and taeyong is a prince of time. both are prospit dreamers. do with this information what you will  
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/neocxxlture)  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/paperplane_127)


End file.
